As all true Doomsters will tell you, the best Doom bands out there just make you just want to sit and go ‘whoa fantastic Doooooom wahey!’ and Maltese veterans of gloom Forsaken prove themselves pretty expert in that, having a sound that references all the big names without directly ripping them off. Frontman Leo proves he can hold his own against the likes of Candlemass with a big, arresting voice, whilst guitarist Sean cranks out the riffs and provides some killer leadwork, the former of which the production intriguingly coats in a thin layer of fuzz, giving the band a sense of age, like this album has been hiding in the shadows for the past ten or twenty years. Impressively, all the musicians are expert, even drummer Simeon (Doom isn’t known for its drumming, in general) who backs the others perfectly, even if he avoids anything too technical. Little hints of US Power Metal here and there give the band an edge, whilst even the interlude pieces turn out to be little short of excellent.

As for the songs themselves, all are great! From the epic build-up of first track proper Aidenn Falls onwards, it’s hard to resist the bevy of beauties on show. Always grandiose, never dull, the band have clearly used their time in Doom (almost twenty years!) to fine-tune their take on the genre, and whilst there is little here that will convert a newcomer, veterans will find more than enough to love. There are plenty of long songs, the melancholic churn of Vanguards Of The Void and the yearning Armida’s Kiss especially excellent, and really there is little bad that can be said about the album. Of course, being True Doom there’s not much variation on show, either, and a little bit of progressiveness would have added a great deal of spice to the stew. Taking After The Fall for what it is, however, Forsaken have created an excellent slice of Doom that does exactly what it says on the tin.